


Bubbles

by BylerFrinds44



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bisexual Male Character, Bisexual Mike Wheeler, Explicit Language, Gay Male Character, Gay Will Byers, M/M, Panic Attacks, Post-Season/Series 03, Starcourt Mall (Stranger Things), byler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29199417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BylerFrinds44/pseuds/BylerFrinds44
Summary: Starcourt mall has been left to crumble and the party makes it their new hangout.
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Kudos: 13





	Bubbles

**Author's Note:**

> I hate my writing schedule! I can only right at like 11:00 at night. Well anyway hope you like it.

It was a cold and windy October day. The sun was shining and flocks of geese flew over the small town of Hawkins. Mike was walking to the mall, or what was left of it, head turned down to the ground. He was not excited for this meetup. The mall hadn’t been rebuilt and there were too many big beams and chunks of rock to clear out so the town had just left it. The army had cleared away the dead monster bits but it was still a creepy place which made it the perfect place for a bunch of teenagers to hang around. Mike knew that Will and El were coming today to visit. In truth Mike was scared of Will. He knew he wasn’t a little kid anymore and thus, shouldn’t be afraid of anything but that wasn’t possible. Mike was afraid of so many things: loud noise, sudden movements, blood, but worst of all his best friend. He wasn’t ready to see Will. He had moved away a month ago but it still felt weird to be around him. He had new friends, a new sister, a new house and, Mike couldn’t even comprehend this one, a girlfriend. Mike hated the idea of Will being with someone he didn’t know. 

As he neared the mall he saw Max and Lucas sitting on the top most beam sticking out from the rubble. He waved awkwardly and they waved back. Then, out of nowhere, something jumped onto his back. He screamed and hunched over on the ground hugging his knees and squinting his eyes tightly shut. “Hey man, it's just me, Dustin,” a soft voice said next to him. Dustin had squatted down with a worried look on his face. “Oh… hey,” Mike said, a little embarrassed. “It’s cool,” was all Dustin said before helping Mike up and walking over to where Max had climbed down to meet them. She also had a worried look on her face, “hey dude, you doing ok?” She asked. “Fine.” Mike said simply. Max dropped the subject as a car rolled into the parking lot. It was Will, El, and Jonathan. As Will and El got out of the car Jonathan yelled something about going to see Nancy before driving off. They then ran over to where the four were now standing as Lucas had climbed down too. El immediately threw herself into Max’s arms. “I missed you too!” Max said in a muffled voice. Will hugged Lucas and Dustin and then awkwardly side hugged mike. El had stopped hugging Max and was now holding tightly to her arm. “Well, shall we?” Lucas said in a very bad British accent. “We shall!” Max said in an even worse British accent. They then started to crawl and weave their way to a spot in the center of the remains. The party in Hawkins had spent weeks clearing out the space and was now working on building a sort of cavern for them to hide in when it got too cold to sit outside. “Wow!” El said, marveling at the progress the rest of the party had made. Mike rolled his eyes. He and El had broken up a few weeks after the Byers had moved, vowing to still be friends, but it was hard for Mike sometimes. El was still so new to the world and that made Mike a little uncomfortable at times like when Max had to explain what a tampon was over the phone to him when El had her first period. “Well should we get to work?” Dustin asked. The rest of the group nodded and they all moved to start clearing out a space for their so-called cave. Dustin had the plans and measurements stuffed in his coat pocket along with a measuring tape. He pulled them out and started directing the group on here to stack and clear out chunks of cement and metal. A few times El or Dustin dropped a piece of rock and Mike flinch. The whole group was doing a pretty good job of forgetting about all the crazy stuff that had happened in the past few years , El and Will were even in therapy now, but Mike. He was a mess. Jumped at everything, having multiple panic attacks daily, and worst of all pretending that nothing was wrong.

After working hard for another hour or so the group decided it was time to take a break. They had made great progress, now having the foundation for their ‘cave’ almost complete. They sat down in a circle in the clearing, all silent, nothing but hard breathing and the Occasional sneeze from the setting dust. Mike didn’t like the quiet. It gave him time to think about the things he didn’t want to think about like how Will looked kind of cute when he was sweaty, or that he was thinking Will looked cute in the first place. Soon other thoughts came into his head pushing away the Will thoughts to be replaced with thoughts of dark things, scary things, the demogorgon, the mind flayer, all the people that died. Then he thought of Bob and how if the guards had listened to him when he told them countless times Will was a spy Bob wouldn’t have died. It was his fault all his fault. Not Wills, not the guards, his. If he had asked if Will wanted to stay over he  
wouldn’t have been taking. These thoughts spiraled in his head until he found himself on the ground curled up in a tight ball, knees held tight to his chest, shaking. As he shook he muttered to himself under his breath “it’s all my fault, it’s all my fault.” By now tears were streaming down his face. He could hear distant voices coming from somewhere he couldn’t quite find. Then suddenly it all snapped back. “Mike! Mike are you ok?!? Talk to me mike!” Max was yelling as he came back to his senses. He slowly sat up, looking at all his friends huddled around him on the ground. “It’s all my fault.” Mike said in a small voice, barely audible over the howling wind. “What’s all your fault?” Will asked. “Everything.” Mike said. “What do you mean by everything?” Max asked. “If I had just asked Will to stay over none of this would have happened!” Mike said a little louder this time. “That’s not true. Think about it,” Dustin said, “ if you had invited Will over to stay the night people would still have been talking and all this bad stuff would have still happened we would just be totally oblivious to it because it wasn’t happening to us!” He explained. Mike just nodded and looked done at the ground. “Hey, you're ok now. Nothing to worry about” El said in a reassuring voice. “We don’t know that.” Lucas said. “You're not helping shithead!” Max said under her breath. Elbowing Lucas in the ribs. “Hey!” He yelled holding his side. Mike covered his ears at the loud outburst. No one seemed to notice except Will. As Mike stood up to walk off his stress, Will stood up too pulling him aside. “Hey, can I talk to you?” Will said in a low voice. Mike wanted to say “no get away from me I don’t even know you anymore” but he knew better. He just nodded. “What’s going on with you? You flinch at everything, he can’t stay in the quiet for more than 3 minutes without having a panic attack! You're a mess.” “I know ok!” Mike said defensively. “Well you need to move on man!” Will said, raising his voice now. “You know what! I haven’t slept for more than an hour a night since that day!” Mike was now raising his voice now too. “The monster is gone! You saw them haul it away!” “I’m not talking about the monster! I’m talking about the day you moved!” Mike screamed. Will looked confused. “What?” He asked. “Don’t you get it man! I like you. Like... Like, like you! Ever since that night on Halloween when we said we would go crazy together! And now I’ve gone crazy and where are you? In another fucking town! You mean every to m—“ but before Mike could say another word Will kissed him. Mike felt like he was 5 feet off the ground. His whole body was now a bubble, flying high into the sky. “About time!” Lucas yelled. Oh my god! Mike and Will had totally forgotten about their other friends. Just like a bubble mike popped. Falling back down to earth. “Shut up!” Will yelled. “Hey Will? What about your girlfriend?” Mike asked. “You really think I have a girlfriend?” Will said. “Well no...but…” Mike said trailing off. “Well we should probably get back to work.” Dustin said. The group exchanges smiles and nods in agreement. 

Mike still jumped at almost everything, but he was getting better. He had a new thing to look forward to and that's what kept him going. Every time Will would visit, Mike would be there. Sometimes, when Will wasn’t around though, Mike fell back into his crappy sleep patterns and stopped eating for days. Will always brought him out of it though. Giving him all the love and attention he wasn't getting from his family. They loved each other and cared for each other through everything. Now there were more than just the boys that met on the swings.


End file.
